1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to traction kites generally. In particular, this invention describes an improved kite control bar having a quick release mechanism intended to facilitate kite related sports such as the new sport of kitesurfing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, new designs of kites and related equipment have helped make feasible a new sport called, alternatively, kitesurfing, kiteboarding, or flysurfing. The sport, illustrated in FIG. 1, involves a sailor manipulating a large kite to power a surfboard style flotation device. The kites being used for this sport are capable of generating large forces making it desirable for the kite sailor to have a means to quickly de-power, or release, the kite under specific circumstances, for convenience and well as sailor safety.
Because the kites employ a plurality of long lines, the tasks of breaking down, stowage, and setting up the kites tend to be long and tedious. Methods for facilitating the winding and stowage of kite lines are therefore also desirable and sought after by kitesurfers.
There are available a number of known systems for controlling and de-powering kites and for stowage of kite lines. Two prior art systems best known and most widely used by kitesurfers are described in detail below. All such prior art control and quick release systems, and the functional aspects of the control bars used by kite sailors to control and de-power kites, have specific known limitations. Such limitations include, but are not limited to, long tether lines that can become entangled and/or cause injury, risk of hand injury due to proximity of hands to kite leads and lines, inadequate hardware for efficient kite lead and line stowage, quick release systems which are difficult to activate and/or perform in an unreliable manner, and quick release systems which require extensive time and effort to re-assemble prior to kite reIs5 deployment.
Presently available control bars, for example, connect directly to kite leads exposing the sailor's hands to risk of injury. These control bars also lack utilitarian winding surfaces that promote quick and reliable stowage of kite leads and kite lines, avoiding problematic tangling of lines between uses. Other available quick release systems, like those employing snap shackles, are unreliable, inefficient, and require the sailor to swim some distance after release to re-engage the kite lead with the control bar and resume sailing.
Moreover, prior art systems that attempt to address some of these limitations do so by combining a number of separate components, rendering the completed article complex and expensive to manufacture.
Accordingly, among the primary objects of the present invention are to provide an improved control bar and quick release system which minimizes the risk of line entanglement and sailor injury; enhances the sailor's ability to control the kite; facilitates quick release and de-powering of the kite as well as easy re-deployment of the kite after release; promotes the efficient winding and stowage of kite leads and lines; and is easy and inexpensive to manufacture relative to presently available kite control and quick release systems.